FMHS Theatre One Act Play State Runner Up
Bringing home the silver for their first runner-up finish at the state’s UIL 6A One Act Play competition added the finishing touch to a successful year for the Flower Mound High School Theatre Department.
Rex Kim was named Outstanding Technician at the One Act state competition in Austin. Kate Chenault was named to the All-Star Cast, and Teagan Taylor received an honorable mention to the all-star cast.
In tech theater, Makenzie Hall won first place in marketing design, and Loralyn Brimer won second in costume design.
Flower Mound’s one act was W;t (also written as Wit) by Margaret Edson, which follows university professor Dr. Vivian Bearing’s final hours as she is dying from ovarian cancer. Senior Kate Chenault tackled the complex role of Dr. Bearing, earning her Best Performer honors at all earlier levels of the competition.
“I loved playing Vivian Bearing,” Kate said. “She was an extremely challenging character, but also thoroughly rewarding to portray.”
In addition to W;t’s success, Hello, Dolly!, received 12 nominations in the 2025 Broadway Dallas High School Musical Theatre Awards and won Best Orchestra (directed by Stephen Clink and Lindsay Swartwood). Hunter Smouse also won the Outstanding Supporting Performer.
Their fall play, The Drowning Girls, won the 2024-25 Betty Lynn Buckley Award at Casa Manana for Excellence in a Play, and Kate Chenault won Best Performance by a
Supporting Actress in a Play. Overall, the show was nominated in 10 categories, including Keli Wilson’s nomination for best theater educator.
FMHS Theatre is led by teachers Jacob Lierman, Keli Wilson, Camille Haley, and John Patterson. This is Mr. Lierman’s first year at Flower Mound.
While all the awards are a nice bonus, Mr. Lierman’s said, “The awards are subjective. We’ll try to make great theater, and whatever happens, happens.”
Overall, Mr. Lierman said the purpose of the program is to train students to be empathetic, “learning to see people,” he said. “We had a lot of moments of ‘who are these people we’re trying to portray?’
He said he’s also building, “a culture of love and acceptance, rather than ‘I got the part.'”
And the theater students bought in. “They support each other, rather than compete. They learned how good it can be — how good a production can be,” he said.
Kate’s talent also played a role in the group’s success. She’s won three Buckley awards during high school, and she’ll attend Cal State Fullerton in the fall to work toward her BFA in Musical Theatre.
“She’s a gamechanger,” Mr. Lierman said. “But what we built off of is her humility. She shows what a little humility can do to your talent. She has a constant hunger to do better, always asking what she can do, and she treats people as equals.”
“FMHS Theatre has been my second home for the past four years,” Kate said. “Through the program, I have been able to grow my passion and have had the privilege of working with amazing people who genuinely care about the arts.”
Kate said that one of the things she’s learned from the program is “that no one audition or show or award defines you. Roles you are given, or how an audition goes does not make up your worth or what makes you you.”
Mr. Leirman said “We’re pushing them past just wanting the applause, but giving breath to someone who’s not them.” He’s had emails from past students who are now doctors or lawyers who have told him that “their ability to empathize with people has given them the ability to do their job better.”
